Uber Adding Feature to Let Drivers Provide More Rider Feedback

Uber today introduced a new feature for its iOS app that allows drivers to provide feedback when giving a rider a rating of less than five stars.

As outlined by The Verge, drivers are now asked "what went wrong" when providing a four star rating or lower. Drivers can then choose from reasons like wait time, patience, number of riders, attitude, wanted a new route, or other.

Riders who continue to receive much of the same feedback from multiple drivers may receive a notification from Uber letting them know about the low ratings and the reason behind them.

Uber is also changing the way its UberPool service works in an effort to make the feature less stressful for drivers. UberPool allows passengers to choose a cheaper fare, but it's a shared ride with the potential for several passenger pickups.

For UberPool rides, drivers will now receive an additional flat fare for each passenger picked up, and Uber says it is planning to pay much of the added cost for the trips through a service fee reduction. Riders will not pay more for a trip even if there are additional pickups.

Uber in June launched a "180 Days of Change" initiative designed to improve working conditions for its drivers and bolster its public image, and today's changes are part of that effort. Uber has been introducing new driver features since then, starting with a long-desired in-app tipping option.

Top Rated Comments

As a full time engineer and part time Uber and Lyft driver (yes, they have the feedback feature too), I find the ability to comment on especially bad riders is useful. Like anything though, there are drivers who will abuse it.

Likewise, there are riders who regularly already abuse my time by making me wait 3 - 5 minutes after I arrive which is generally 1 - 2 minutes after the system texted them that I was close by. To say nothing of the riders that select UberPOOL or Lyft Line, then act like babies when they aren't the next one dropped off. Then there are the total drunks...

I am a rider for my engineering job and a driver part time. 10 - 20% each of riders and drivers just suck. That's life.

And yes, I do think my vehicle puts people in a better mood the moment I pull up, so I do have it easier. If a clean cut, professional driver picked you up in a Lexus that is washed and vacuumed each driving day, I think you would be happier too...

Yes! Thank you! I had been driving for uber for a couple of years and I had been contacting their support (impossible to get a hold of) about rider ratings (among other things I'm glad they're adding now). I've had rude drunk people yelling racist s**t out my window at other people, or spilling their food everywhere after telling them "no food," even riders blaming me because THEY put in the wrong destination address, and stinky people. These changes are welcome. Yes there are crappy uber drivers and it would be nice to have more driver info too. But in my experience, our driving standards are really low. So you could have a top notch driver, and still get hit by a terrible driver who was more concerned for whats on their phone. To me, its our easy-to-pass driving tests that are the real problem.

ps I didn't give low ratings for short rides. Only if you had me waiting for a long time or smelled bad. But I see how drivers could abuse this new feature. Honestly, they're just mad about the continuous pay cuts from uber. I was too. (We have our own "Uber driver" forum too)

Pretty much. Have you ever perused the Uber forums. Some of the folks on those sites are stating if the ride is less than a 10 minute trip, they give the riders one or two stars. WTF!

I have actually curtailed my use of Uber since I have been reading their forums, been using Lyft a lot more these days.

Drivers who engage in that sort of behavior should be removed from Uber. I've heard from drivers that some call you in advance of picking up just to ask what your destination is so that they can cancel the ride before fully accepting it if it's too short. That's ridiculous. I, like most people I'm sure, have a mixture of shorter and longer rides; I shouldn't have to wonder if a driver will refuse service because the current ride isn't as long as they would like.

Yeah, how about an option to only select DRIVERS with 4.5 average stars or better, knowing how many rides they've given in the last hour, how long they've been on the clock (to gauge driver fatigue) how many tickets and/or accidents they've had in, say the last 12 months?

MacRumors attracts a broad audience
of both consumers and professionals interested in
the latest technologies and products. We also boast an active community focused on
purchasing decisions and technical aspects of the iPhone, iPod, iPad, and Mac platforms.